Unlucky!
Yeah I'd say row with someone or argument but not fight unless physical contact had been made.
I would say fight even if no physical contact.
Same.
Out here in the Antipodes, there's a marvellous word "stoush", which historically meant fistfight, but now means any row.Maybe it's because I'm old, but fight would imply physical violence.
I'm old but it would depend on context. If someone says they got in a fight at work (or with their wife), I'd assume it was a row unless they specified a physical element. If they said they got in a fight at the pub, I'd assume physical until clarified otherwise.
One thing we boomers shouldn't apologise for is not watering down language until it becomes meaningless.
The other things, not so much.
I'm old, so I'd class throwing rocks at Stormtroopers as rebellion.
You're officially kicked out of the cockney whining club.
Isn't that supporters of Chelski, Arse an all, and Spurts?
Happy to sign off on this.
Even if the word has been accepted to mean "heated argument" for more than our lifetimes?
I understand that, but there are other words with that more direct meaning, and it's not the primary meaning of the word. Of course people can choose their words poorly, particularly if they lack the breadth of vocabulary, if they want. There's no requirement to be clear with what you actually mean, and as a result cause confusion and misunderstanding.
It's just not effective communication.
Of course people generally like to be thought of as more than they really are, so might co-opt words like 'fight' which appears strong more so than, for example, looking at someone a bit funny and making a sarcy snipe.
So there are lots of contributory factors potentially here. It's just clear after cross examination that what we are dealing with here is not really a fight. Except in the loosest sense.
We could have got here quicker with better use of language. But that probably wasnt the objective.
While I agree in principle - "literally" has been a bugbear for many years - this is a perfectly valid use of the word "fight", and "punch-up", "brawl", "fistfight" etc would have been available for a different meaning.
I thought it was reasonably clear, but clearly there was some ambiguity which was quickly cleared up.I wonder if it's a regional dialect thing where Notnum folk have a more specific usage.
I suspect it's more a case of this:
I think that we can all agree that 'fight' is at best imprecise, and largely hyperbole unless it actually involves twatting someone.
